DeepMind Spent £105M in AI Research in 2016

DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman speaking at an event earlier this year (via bit.ly/2hSZE0B)

Financial documents published on Companies House revealed just how much Alphabet-owned DeepMind spent on Artificial Intelligence research last year.

The AI lab—which rose to prominence after its brainchild AlphaGo triumphed against professional Go player Lee Sedol in 2016—spent £104.8 million on “staff costs and other related costs” in 2016. The exact number of DeepMind employees is not known, but thought to be between 500 and 600; assuming it were 600, this would make for an average pay cheque of about £175,000.

This appears to be confirmed by Business Insider, which, quoting anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, reveals that DeepMind researchers usually earn more than £100,000.

The Companies House documents also disclosed, for the first time, that the AI powerhouse spent £1.4 million to acquire healthcare startup Hark Health in February 2016.

Hark, an Imperial College spinout, had created a clinical task management smartphone app— something similar to DeepMind Health’s Streams, which has been deployed in pilot projects in various NHS Trusts over the last months.

Talking to Business Insider, a DeepMind spokesman said: “We’re really proud that some of the world’s most exciting AI research and real-world application is taking place right here in London.”

“We intend to keep investing in our scientific mission, and to work with the world’s brightest minds to tackle society’s most complex problems.”